Free Dimensional (CD)

Diamond Rings

1 Used

Amoeba Review

Billy Gil 10/18/2012

Diamond Rings’ John O’Regan is smarter than your average boy diva. His sparkling electro-pop has just enough kitsch you grab your attention but just enough of the goods — musical variation and memorable songs — to keep you interested. At the outset, Free Dimensional is strong, if conventional, in its electronic pop construction, with “All the Time,” a catchy dancefloor love song, and “Runaway Love,” with its Pixies-ish composition and alt-rock guitars nicely augmenting O’Regan’s surging synths and rockier vocals. Later on the album, O’Regan lets it fly a little looser, going full on new wave on the Human League-ish “Put Me On,” tilting West Hollywood on “I’m Just Me” and vibing on ’80s R&B with “Hand Over My Heart,” which uses the synth sound of Deniece Williams’ “Let’s Hear it For the Boy” as a touchstone. Though Free Dimensional can feel like a grab bag of dance sounds — some freestyle here on “(I Know) What I’m Made of,” complete with Neneh Cherry-style rapping; some Phoenix-ish modern dance-rock there, with “A to Z” — but O’Regan is adept at just about all of it (only his attempt at hip-hop, “Day & Night,” falls flat). The slicker sounds O’Regan embraces on Free Dimensional are mostly favorable, and even when overreaching, you’re inclined to dance along with him in the spirit of the album’s freewheeling nature.